Senator wants refund scheme for internet outages, disruptions

Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/tvpatrol/07/09/20200102-phone-social-media-ac-155243.jpg"/><figcaption><em>ABS-CBN News file photo</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - A senator on Tuesday filed a bill requiring internet service providers to &quot;refund credit or adjust a customer&#x27;s bill&quot; in the event of disrupted services or outages.</p><p>Sen. Lito Lapid&#x27;s Senate Bill No. 2092 seeks to amend Republic Act No. 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines to ensure that telcos will reimburse their subscribers who &quot;experienced a service outage or disruption for an aggregate period of 24 hours or more within a month.&quot;</p><p>&quot;For an Internet-dependent, data-driven world where almost all aspects of our daily life rely on being &#x27;online&#x27; and &#x27;connected,&#x27; service outages, disruptions and interruptions cause discomfort, lost opportunities, or worse, lost profits and income,&quot; the senator said on the bill&#x27;s explanatory note.</p><p>&quot;The principle behind this measure is quite simple - that there is no unjust enrichment on the part of big businesses to the prejudice of consumers,&quot; he said.</p><p>The proposed refund &quot;shall likewise be granted to customers subscribing to a service on a pre-paid basis,&quot; the bill read. </p><p>&quot;The refund credit or bill adjustment shall be automatically implemented without need of any action or request on the part of the affected customer,&quot; it said.</p><p>Lapid noted that Senate hearings and offices have also been affected by internet outages in recent months.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/17/20/internet-connectivity-issue-interrupts-crucial-senate-budget-debates">Internet connectivity issue interrupts crucial Senate budget debates</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/01/20/comedy-of-errors-hearing-on-ph-web-status-suspended-over-poor-internet-connection">&#x27;Comedy of errors&#x27;: Hearing on PH web status suspended over poor internet connection</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Data from a website monitoring real-time status and outage information revealed that for a single day, reports of outages for certain Philippine internet service providers peaked to as high as 50 outages,&quot; he said.</p><p>In November, Converge ICT, the Senate&#x27;s internet service provider, said &quot;a power issue&quot; resulted in an outage in its data center and all subscribers were affected.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/11/17/20/converge-ict-services-down-says-due-to-power-issue">Converge ICT services down, says due to power issue</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/04/21/zoom-recovers-from-hours-long-outage-says-issues-were-likely-due-to-local-internet-glitch">Zoom recovers from hours-long outage, says issues were likely due to local internet glitch</a></li></ul><p>The Philippines&#x27; mobile internet speed ranks 86th out of 140 countries according to Ookla’s 2021 Speedtest Global Index released earlier this month.</p><p>The Philippines&#x27; 25.77 Mbps in January - up from 22.5 Mbps in December - helped the country move 10 places up in the speedtest.</p><p>Average fixed broadband download speeds in the country also improved to 32.73 Mbps in January from 31.44 Mbps in December.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/02/21/philippines-moves-up-10-spots-in-mobile-internet-speed-ranking-ookla">Philippines moves up 10 spots in mobile internet speed ranking: Ookla</a></li></ul><p>Last year, a House lawmaker filed a bill seeking to impose an annual P365 million fine against telcos that would fail to reach internet speed targets.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/12/27/20/p365-million-annual-fine-sought-on-telcos-failing-to-reach-internet-speed-targets">P365 million annual fine sought on telcos failing to reach internet speed targets</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kcFl6bxNluk?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>MANILA - A senator on Tuesday filed a bill requiring internet service providers to "refund credit or adjust a customer's bill" in the event of disrupted services or outages.</p>

MANILA - A senator on Tuesday filed a bill requiring internet service providers to "refund credit or adjust a customer's bill" in the event of disrupted services or outages.

Senator wants refund scheme for internet outages, disruptions | ABS-CBN

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Senator wants refund scheme for internet outages, disruptions

Senator wants refund scheme for internet outages, disruptions

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Mar 10, 2021 05:20 PM PHT

Read More:

Lito Lapid

Senate

Senate bill

internet

internet outage

refund

service

internet service provider

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